Charley Pride

Country singer Charley Pride enjoyed a stellar career as a recording artist, earning over 30 No. 1 hits and a dozen gold albums between 1966 and 1989, which placed him second only to Elvis Presley as the top-selling artist for RCA Records and among the top 10 singers with the most No 1 singles on the Billboard country chart. Those accomplishments would have been enough to enshrine Pride among the highest echelon of country music performers, but he was further distinguished as one of the few African-American musicians to enjoy any sort of success in that genre. Pride addressed issues of race by letting his songs and rich, smooth delivery speak for itself. In doing so, he achieved one of the most storied careers in late 20th century country music; he remained the last black artist to reach the top of the country charts until 2008, when ex-Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker claimed the No. 1 spot with "Don't Think I Don't Think About It." Though Pride's career wound down in the 1990s, his incredible string of hit singles and records enshrined him in both the country world and history books as a groundbreaking and rarely surpassed talent.